The Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino is a hotel and casino in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned by Westgate Resorts and operated by Paragon Gaming. It has 2,956 hotel rooms including 305 suites. It opened in 1969 as the International Hotel, and was known for many years as the Las Vegas Hilton, then briefly as the LVH - Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. It was renamed the Westgate Las Vegas on July 1, 2014. The hotel is 30 stories tall with a height of 114.30 meter / 375.00 feet. Located on 64 acres (26 ha), it has a 74,000 square feet (6,900 m2) casino and is also home to the largest sports book in Las Vegas. The hotel is located next to the Las Vegas Convention Center and has its own 200,000 sq ft (19,000 m2) convention center, and a station along the Las Vegas Monorail.
Video Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino
History
International Hotel (1969-1971)
The hotel site was previously part of the grounds of Las Vegas Park, a defunct racetrack. In 1965, the 400-acre (160 ha) track site was purchased by National Equities, a real estate development firm chaired by Marvin Kratter. Kratter announced development plans for the site to include a 40-floor, 1,500-room hotel, as well as a golf course and private homes. In 1967, National Equities sold a 65.5-acre (26.5 ha) portion of the site to Kirk Kerkorian for $5 million. Kerkorkian, who was known at the time as the chairman of Trans International Airlines and as the landlord of Caesars Palace, announced that he would build a 30-story hotel with 1,510 rooms, at a cost of $50 million. He hired Martin Stern, Jr., who had designed several noted Las Vegas high-rises, as the hotel's architect. Kerkorian's hotel would be named the International Hotel, matching the name of Kratter's International Country Club (now the Las Vegas Country Club). Construction began with an elaborate groundbreaking ceremony in February 1968.
With planning for the hotel underway, Kerkorian purchased the Flamingo casino, to serve as a training ground for the International's staff. Later, during the International's construction, Kerkorian formed a publicly traded company, International Leisure, to own the two casinos.
The hotel opened on July 2, 1969. Entertainment director Bill Miller was able to sign Barbra Streisand as the opening-night performer, along with Peggy Lee performing afterwards in the hotel's lounge.
On July 31, 1969, immediately following Streisand's engagement, Elvis Presley performed for 58 consecutive sold out shows, breaking all Las Vegas attendance records, (130,157 paying, and ostensibly gambling, customers in the period of one month), with stellar reviews coming from both critics and the public. Presley broke his own attendance record in February 1970, and again in August 1970 and August 1972. When playing Las Vegas, he lived in the penthouse suite (room 3000), located on the 30th floor, until his last performance there in December 1976. Between 1969 and 1976, Presley performed a total of 837 shows, all to sold out audiences. He was due to perform there again in 1978, to celebrate the opening of the North tower, but the singer died in August 1977. His manager, Colonel Tom Parker, lived in the hotel on the 4th floor from the 1970s to mid-1980s.
Las Vegas Hilton (1971-2012)
In 1970 and 1971, Kerkorian sold his shares of International Leisure to Hilton Hotels, because of a cash shortage resulting from his acquisitions of Western Airlines and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The International was renamed in July 1971 as the Las Vegas Hilton.
Liberace headlined in the showroom during the 1970s, drawing sold-out crowds twice per night. When he signed his contract at the Hilton in 1972 he earned $300,000 per week, a record amount for individual entertainers in Las Vegas.
The Las Vegas Hilton was the site in 1978 where Leon Spinks defeated Muhammad Ali for the World Heavyweight Championship. It was also the site in which Mike Tyson defeated Tony Tucker to unify and become the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion in 1986. Also, Donald Curry defeated Milton McCrory at the Las Vegas Hilton to unify and become the Undisputed Welterweight Champion in December 1985.
An east tower extension with 620 rooms was completed in 1975 at a cost of $20 million. A $23-million expansion added another 644 rooms to the north tower in 1979.
1981 fire
On the night of February 10, 1981, a major fire occurred at the Hilton. Philip Bruce Cline, a hotel busboy who was under the influence of drugs, set fire to a curtain in an elevator lobby on the eighth floor of the east tower. The fire spread to the exterior of the tower and then traveled up to the top of the building within 25 minutes. Eight people were killed, and approximately 350 were injured, including 48 firefighters. Among the victims treated for smoke inhalation was singer Natalie Cole.
Cline was convicted in 1982 of arson and murder, and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Hilton and other companies involved in the hotel paid a $23 million settlement to victims. The tragedy, in combination with the MGM Grand fire that had occurred months earlier, inspired major changes to Nevada's fire safety regulations.
1981-2012
Around the end of 1981, another extension to the north tower was completed, adding 391 rooms at a cost of $21 million. This made the Las Vegas Hilton the largest hotel in the world, with a total of 3,174 rooms. (The Rossiya Hotel in Moscow had more rooms, but was not deemed to be a larger hotel by the Guinness Book of World Records because many of its rooms were used as dormitories.) It held this title until 1990, when it was surpassed by the Flamingo.
In 1986, amid growing popularity of sports betting in Nevada, the Hilton opened the Superbook, the world's largest race and sports book, at a cost of $17 million.
In 1991, the Hilton was at the center of the Tailhook scandal, in which numerous United States Navy officers were accused of acts of sexual assault during a convention at the hotel.
The hotel completed a new 362-foot (110 m), $4-million marquee sign in 1994. Later that year, however, it was partially destroyed by a windstorm. The sign was reconstructed in 1997 for $9 million with a reduced height of 279 feet (85 m), making it the world's tallest free-standing advertising sign.
In 1998, Hilton spun off its casino properties, including the Las Vegas Hilton, as Park Place Entertainment.
Hilton's timeshare arm, Hilton Grand Vacations, began construction of a complex at the northeast corner of the property in 1998. It opened in 1999 with 230 suites.
Around 1999, Park Place began seeking a buyer for the Las Vegas Hilton, because the company hoped to concentrate on its properties on the Las Vegas Strip, especially the newly acquired Caesars Palace. In 2000, Park Place agreed to sell the Hilton to Edward Roski Jr. for $365 million. Roski planned to transform the Hilton to shift its focus away from high rollers and toward convention attendees. The deal fell through, however, and the property was locked up in litigation between Park Place and Roski until 2003, when they settled their claims against each other.
In June 2004, Caesars Entertainment (formerly Park Place) sold the Las Vegas Hilton to Colony Capital for $280 million. Colony partnered in the purchase with Goldman Sachs, which also lent $200 million of the purchase price. In 2005, the Hilton was placed under the banner of Colony's newly formed casino affiliate, Resorts International Holdings, which was headquartered at the property.
The Hilton prospered in its first few years under Colony's management, but began losing money in the face of the Great Recession and an oversupply of hotel rooms in Las Vegas. In June 2011, the Hilton began defaulting on payments to Goldman Sachs on the loan. The same month, Hilton Worldwide opted to terminate its franchise agreement with the property, effective at the end of the year.
Goldman Sachs issued a foreclosure notice in September 2011. At Goldman's request, a court appointed a receiver to take control of the property.
LVH (2012-2014)
On January 3, 2012, the Las Vegas Hilton became the LVH-Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, as the contract to use the Hilton brand ended.
Colony Capital initially tried to fight against foreclosure of the property, but ultimately concluded that its equity in the LVH was worthless, and agreed to let the foreclosure proceed. Goldman Sachs formed a joint venture with Gramercy Capital to acquire the property. They bought the property at its foreclosure auction in October 2012, where they were the only bidder. The Navegante Group was retained to manage the LVH on their behalf.
In 2013, the LVH affiliated with the Leo Hotel Collection, a network of independent hotels newly created by Red Lion Hotels.
Westgate Las Vegas (2014-present)
On June 30, 2014, timeshare developer Westgate Resorts bought the LVH from Goldman and Gramercy for a price between $150 and $170 million. Westgate CEO David Siegel was hoisted to the top of the hotel's sign the following day to begin removing the letters "LVH" to make way for the property's new name, Westgate Las Vegas. Siegel stated that the company would spend at least $160 million on renovations, and that it would begin converting hotel rooms into timeshare units. According to Siegel, the timeshare conversion would take 15 to 20 years, and, even after its completion, at least 30 percent of the units would remain available as hotel rooms at any given time.
Westgate retained Paragon Gaming to replace Navegante as the property's manager in 2015.
Maps Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino
Entertainment
Shows
The property's main entertainment venue is the 1,607-seat International Theater. The venue hosts Barry Manilow's residency show, The Hits Come Home, and Soundtrack, a co-headlining residency show by singers Clint Holmes and Earl Turner. Both shows began in 2018.
Smaller shows are hosted in the 400-seat Westgate Cabaret. This venue hosts the adult revue Sexxy, running since 2014, and, since 2018, comedian George Wallace and magician Jen Kramer.
On September 14, 1993, the Vegas version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express show opened. This involved a massive conversion of the theater including pouring concrete ramps into the seating area. When the show closed, the theater was used to film The Oak Ridge Boys Live series for TNN before it was gutted and renovated.
During the summer of 2006, Reba McEntire performed her residency show, Reba: Key to the Heart, which ran for five non-consecutive weeks.
Manilow performed his Manilow: Music and Passion and Ultimate Manilow: The Hits shows at the Las Vegas Hilton. As part of the contract, Manilow occupied one of the three "sky villas," very large penthouse suites that were built in 1994 to replace the original penthouse, Elvis's home for 8 years. In February 2007, the Hilton painted Las Vegas' largest mural, of Barry Manilow, on the side of the hotel.
In July 2011, 10-year-old singer Ethan Bortnick performed at the Hilton, becoming the youngest headline performer in Las Vegas.
The King, starring Elvis impersonator Trent Carlini, the winner of TV's The Next Best Thing, ran from 2000 to 2005, and returned in 2010.
Other previous headliners at the Westgate Cabaret include impressionist Greg London, funk band Cameo, and comedian Vinnie Favorito. Purple Reign, a Prince tribute show, previously ran at the International Theater. The classic rock tribute show Raiding the Rock Vault opened at the LVH in 2013.
Star Trek: The Experience
In January 1998, Star Trek: The Experience opened. The casino added a space-themed casino, Space Quest, complete with high-tech table games. It served as the gateway to The Experience. Sometime prior to the summer of 2007 the casino was redone to largely remove the space theme.
On March 18, 2004, a new Borg Invasion 4-D ride was added.
On September 2008, Star Trek: The Experience closed and was completely dismantled the following January. It was planned to be moved to the Neonopolis mall, but as of 2011 it has not opened, and most props and costumes that were displayed have since been sold. Plans for the relocation have since been abandoned. Despite the closure, several of the "spaceship-style" wall panels in the Hilton installed for the experience are still there. On October 25, 2016 the Miss Grand International 2016 pageant was held in this arena.
Popular culture
Television
- Let's Make a Deal produced its final syndicated season here in 1976-77.
- The television series The Oak Ridge Boys: Live from Las Vegas was taped in the Starlight Theater.
- Two episodes of Roseanne were taped here in 1991.
- In 1998, 2002, 2005, 2009, 2010, and 2013 Wheel of Fortune was taped on location at the Las Vegas Hilton Theater.
- Two weeks of episodes of Jeopardy! were taped on location at the Las Vegas Hilton Theater: a week of Celebrity Jeopardy! and the 2001 International Championship, which was won by then-reigning Tournament of Champions winner Robin Carroll.
- Louis Theroux's BBC documentary 'weird weekends' was filmed here, discussing the lifestyle and merits of gambling and following several gamblers around the casino.
- On May 2, 1982 the National Cable Television Association held its annual convention in the ballroom of the then Hilton Hotel for the inaugural telecast of The Weather Channel.
Film
- In August 1970, it was the setting for the stage segment of Elvis Presley's concert documentary Elvis - That's The Way It Is.
- The hotel was used as the infamous "Whyte House" casino in the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever.
- The hotel was also featured extensively toward the end of the movie Over the Top.
- Other notable appearances include the movie Indecent Proposal.
Music
- The Hilton is the setting of the song "Home on Monday" by the Little River Band on their album Diamantina Cocktail, starting with the lyrics, "Can you guess where I'm calling from? The Las Vegas Hilton."
Video games
- The Hilton becomes the target of a terrorist bombing in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2.
- The LVH has been deemed the location for the 2014 Evolution Fighting Game Tournament series, a.k.a. Evo. See http://shoryuken.com/2013/09/15/evo-2014-announced/ for more.
Gallery
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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